Piaget Altiplano 900P Presentation in Tokyo
KIH
I was invited to Piaget's presentation on Altiplano 900P - which has been talked about and discussed here so many times already - and I would like to dig a bit deeper how great this novelty is.
Venue
Andaz Tokyo in Toranomon Hills (looks and sounds familiar 
)
) 
Inside the "Chapel".
Mr. Nicolas Jaccard, CEO, Piaget Japan ?Opening remark
And the presentation by Mr. Franck Touzeau, Watch Marketing Director, Piaget Switzerland.
I wish I could show you the presentation here, but the points are:
- Today, Piaget has 35 movements available, of which 23 are "Ultra-Thin" and holds 12 "thinness" records.
- Automatic ultra thin movement was made in 1960 (12P) and in the 50th Anniversary Year (2010), 1200P was introduced as the "new" standard.
- As for the manual ultra thin movement, it was first made in 1957 (9P), and Piaget has been pondering to make an even more impressive manual movement.
- It took 3 years and a number of new invention, technology, design concept, and paradigm shift.
- Now the movement worthy to have the designation "900P" has been completed, with 145 parts all in the 3.65 mm thick (or thin) case.
- Almost everything in it was re-invented from the thickness of stones, gears, barrel, to placement of the bridge/ dial as well as base plate.....etc.
Thanks to Fx, here is the very rare and important photo of the base plate which has been integrated with the case back.
Notice the 4h barrel space, for example, which has only the small shallow hole - barrel is suspended from the bridge on the dial side.
Last by not the least, "Altiplano" means "high plain" in Spanish and it is located in west-central South America, which happened to be at the height of 3,650m while this 900P has just 3.65 mm thickness.
Now the watches!
Diamond Bezel version.
Very diamond version which is a bit thicker than others (5.65m, if my memory serves right - notice that the dial is "above" the bridge)
Normal version dial/ hands are "below" the bridge - why? To protect hands from the glass in case it is pressed too hard (clearance there is also very slim).
If it has to worry about such cases, it made me wonder, how "thin" the very hard sapphire glass is as well - the answer was "less than 1mm"... Okay....
You can see the winding gears and (suspended) barrel from the dial side.
Naturally, no display back. The other side of this case back works as the base plate.
"P" logo.
Well finished skeletonized bridge.
Thin - compare with my finger.
Compare with Lange 1...
Beautiful finish....
38mm is very, very well thought size as the lugs don't stick out of my wrist - 43mm thin watch would defeat the purpose, for me.
What more can I say?
Very tempting dressy watch!
Thank you so much:
Mr. Jaccard, CEO, Piaget Japan
Mr. Touzeau, Watch Marketing Director, Piaget
Ms. Imai, Communication Senior Manager, Piaget Japan
Wonderful novelty, to say the least.
Ken
Ken
This message has been edited by KIH on 2014-07-10 11:54:10 This message has been edited by MTF on 2014-07-10 17:20:32
Comments:
docsnov July 10th, 2014-17:30
Ken, I read in another article on the watch that it is so thin it can actually bend/flex and they made sure to keep the escapement as far from the crystal as possible so it wouldn't touch and stop the movement. I can't remember the brand but the article brought up some ultra thin quartz watches fro...
MTF July 10th, 2014-17:45
How Piaget patented a way to stop flex affecting movement docsnov, You are correct that very thin watches in the past suffered flex and imprecise timing because the glass or case back would touch the moving parts of the watch. The biggest innovation (or thinnest innovation) that Piaget introduced for the 900P is...
docsnov July 10th, 2014-18:16
Thanks for the information. I think this is an attractive watch, but I have had some reservations about its durability due to its being so thin. Your information makes me think they have addressed this concern to the best of their ability. Stewart
MTF July 10th, 2014-18:25
What bumpers? Some people asked where the protective "bumpers" are. Actually they are very thin sub-dial recesses. The best illustration is the photo of the diamond-set ring around the time display. The diamonds make the protection ring more obvious but even without th...
KIH July 10th, 2014-21:15
Since I did not want to break it... .. I did not apply too much pressure, but the crystal seemed tough enough, although for precaution, the dial and hands are sunk down than the bridge surface so that the dial/ hands would be protected. Smartly designed. Ken
riverside / Henry July 10th, 2014-17:35
Great watch or should I say, great but thin watch. I love it.
MTF July 10th, 2014-17:35
Live pictures of the full range of Piaget Altiplano 900P watches Thanks KIH for the report. These must be close to production standard of watches if they start to gem set the "bezel". At the previews end-2013 and at SIHH 2014, the watches were not yet at production standard. The 38mm diameter is 'correct' for such a ul...
KIH July 10th, 2014-21:19
Yeah, xxxx Hills are built by the same company... .. Mori Building. And basically the are made on the former graveyard - tons of ghost stories told by the employees of the tenants LOL. The stone bezel one has the same spec, but diamond dial has some height and is 5.65 mm thickness.... I heard. Wonderful ...
MichaelC July 10th, 2014-18:38
Very interesting that the caseback incorporates the movement. And makes complete sense to help this watch be so thin. I really like the look of the watch. I also see the diameter as "just right", especially when considering how thin the watch is. The side by side shots with the Lange really show the difference. Grea...
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